The cat cam doesn't lie.
(Credit: Mr. Whiskers)In September, I, or should I say my cat, was an unknowing participant in a project put together by Nestle Purina PetCare's Friskies brand of cat food. The company doled out 50 little digital cameras that slip onto a cat's collar and then the cameras were set to take a shot once every 15 minutes. The 10 best photos were then uploaded to Flickr at the end of every day. (You can check out the Flickr group and see the results for yourself.)
The project ran for about a week and once it was over, I didn't really hear anything much about it again. Until Thursday. A reporter with the Associated Press put together a story about what cats do during the day based on statistics garnered from the cat focus group. The key stat: 22 percent of the cats' time was spent looking out of windows. (Of course, the percentages listed in the story are, you know, based on a group of 50 cats with only the best, most interesting photos used.)
That's all well and good, but I figured you might be more interested in how the camera performed. It's basically a toy and I wasn't expecting stellar quality. And, well, the results look like they were taken with a toy camera, which if you're into lomography can be pretty cool. Once you've grown tired of seeing the photos your pets shoot, you can always clip the camera to whatever else you want. What's nice is you can set the camera to take shots every minute, 5 minutes, or 15 minutes, and that the camera is rugged enough to take quite a bit of abuse.
The biggest downside is that the memory stores up to only 40 photos at 640x480-pixel resolution. Plus, if you're not fast about offloading the photos and the battery dies, you lose everything.
If you want to run your own focus group, the camera sells for about $50.
(Credit:
Bhautik Joshi)
Correction posted at 1:56 p.m. PST to clarify how Joshi attached the lenses to his phone.
The iPhone 3GS has a 3.2-megapixel fixed-lens camera and that seems to satisfy most users, but not Bhautik Joshi. The iPhone 3GS has a 3.2-megapixel fixed-lens camera and that seems to satisfy most users, but not Bhautik Joshi. The engineer at ILM R&D fitted optical drive lenses to the Apple phone's case, then stuck on a few PVC pipes to accommodate his 18-55mm Canon glass.
Personally, I think this this hack is way overdone. I'm pretty sure your modded iPhone won't fit in your pocket anymore and stability will be a major issue. Also, pictures taken with the modified lens actually look worse than before it was tweaked (Joshi responds to comments about image quality here). But if you're brave (or free) enough to try out this time-consuming hack, here's the link for the instructions.
The photo taken with the modified version is on the right.
(Credit: Bhautik Joshi)(Source: Crave Asia via Gizmodo)
(Credit:
Franziska Dierschke)
This campy camera gun is, quite literally, that. The Aimat is a squirt-gun-looking digital camera that you, well, point and shoot. Conceived by designer Franziska Dierschke, it's a concept device and not for sale--and for good reason. We can't imagine packing this piece through airport customs or even any sensitive area for that matter.
One can also expect the picture quality to be pretty Lomo-esque. Still, despite its "for laughs" intentions, this "firearm" could be aiming to be a shortlived novelty, given its notable lack of a viewfinder, zoom function, memory expansion options, and all the other niceties we expect in our cameras today.
(Credit:
Franziska Dierschke)
(Source: Crave Asia via Tomel)
An orangutan in the Vienna Zoo takes pictures that are uploaded to Facebook. No, she didn't take the self-portrait.
(Credit: Nonja's Facebook page)
She's like the Ashton Kutcher of the ape world: an orangutan in the Vienna Zoo now has a Facebook fan page to showcase the photos she takes with a digital camera. The orangutan, named Nonja, uses a Samsung ST 1000 point-and-shoot that automatically uploads the photos.
When this post was published, Nonja had over 9,000 "fans" subscribed to her page.
But there's a catch: coverage of the camera-toting ape in the U.K.'s Daily Mail explains that the camera has been modified to dispense a raisin whenever the shutter button is pushed. So Nonja is evidently more interested in tasty treats than in artistic endeavors.
The non-orangutan version of the Samsung ST 1000 was released this summer (though not in the U.S.) and is equipped with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.
Google and Microsoft have joined a group devoted to creating a way that cell phone buyers can easily comprehend the quality of their camera phones.
The International Imaging Industry Association said the tech titans signed up to help with the third phase of the Camera Phone Image Quality Initiative, in which a variety of companies try to create measurements to capture various test results.
Mobile phones that can take photos are ubiquitous today, but with tiny image sensors and lenses and severe budget constraints, they vary widely in their ability to take good photos. Mostly all that buyers have to go on is a megapixel count, which isn't terribly meaningful when it comes to such small sensors. The International Imaging Industry Association, a consortium whose mission is to make imaging better for consumers, is trying to come up with a better way.
The mobile phone camera tests include resolution, color uniformity, lens distortion, and lens chromatic aberration, but the group also plans to factor in sharpness and noise reduction. A variety of other possibilities ranging from dynamic range, white balance, and resistance to glare also could be added into the mix as well.
The group is trying boil all this down into an official star rating consumers can trust.
Other companies working on the standard include Aptina Imaging, CDM Optics, DxO Labs, Eastman Kodak, Fujifilm, Motorola, Nokia, OmniVision Technologies, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, STMicroelectronics, ST Ericsson, and VistaPoint Technologies.
If you enjoy photography, don't make the mistake I did.
Using my then-new SLR in 2005 and 2006, I photographed everything from my new son to otherworldly canyons we visited in Utah. The only problem: the photos were taken only in JPEG format.
JPEG is fine as far as it goes, and indeed for most folks it will suffice. But having rediscovered my enjoyment of photography in the digital era, I wish I'd used the raw image format that comes with SLRs and higher-end compact cameras.
This illustration shows the checkerboard Bayer pattern of a typical digital camera's image sensor. Each pixel captures either red, green, or blue.
(Credit: DxO Labs)My initial regret was from the realization that raw photos, although taking up about three times the storage space as a JPEG and requiring manual processing, offer higher quality and more flexibility. But what I've come to understand since then is a second advantage of raw: because processing software improves over time, raw photos in effect can get better with age.
For that reason, I've begun recommending friends who show some enthusiasm for photography that they should think about shooting important events in raw format alongside JPEG. You don't have to mess with the raw files today, but if it's an important event like a wedding, you might want them for later.
I've included below some samples of a noisy image shot in near-darkness at ISO 25,600 from my SLR. They may not convince you that shooting raw is a miracle cure for photo quality, but they do illustrate some differences with the camera's JPEG and that the raw-processing software isn't standing still.
... Read more
(Credit:
Pure Digital)
With many electronics makers looking to replicate the success of the Flip video camera, the company behind it, Cisco, is looking for a new way to stand out.
Since the Flip's debut in 2007, a parade of similar sub-$200 camcorders, from far more established names have followed, including those from Sony, Samsung, Kodak, Creative, Toshiba, and others. Now the Flip folks are mixing it up a bit.
Instead of readying an updated camera for the holidays, the newest product isn't a camera at all, but a tiny, square-ish box that plugs into a TV. Using a small white USB dongle, it can stream your homemade Flip videos stored on your computer to your TV's larger screen, with the ability to sort through videos using an included remote control. The system is called Flipshare TV, and it's available starting Wednesday.
Some 3 million of the pocket-sized flash-based cameras have sold since the Flip's launch in 2007. After establishing the brand, the device's makers Pure Digital sold the company to networking giant Cisco for $590 million.
Jonathan Kaplan, Flip founder and current vice president of Cisco's consumer products group, said earlier this year to expect "networked" Flip cameras, and Flipshare TV is one example of that.
The idea behind Flipshare TV is that you'll be more likely to watch your videos after making them if you can show them to a larger group on a larger screen. Taking home video is great, as Flip's head of marketing Simon Fleming-Wood says, but "the key is the ability is to do fun things with it."... Read more
(Credit:
Crave UK)
In the year Olympus declared an end to the megapixel race, we've seen all kinds of exciting, innovative, and occasionally insane new digital cameras.
This new generation of cameras no longer relies on the myth of megapixels to seduce you: you're tech-savvy enough to know that more megapixels don't necessarily mean better pictures. These days manufacturers have to think outside the box to differentiate their products. Way, way outside the box.
From interchangeable lenses to built-in projectors, GPS, and Wi-Fi; from touch screens to extra screens to 3D pictures and transformed sensors, we run down the cameras with unique selling points, and decide if they're a stroke of genius or a hopeless gimmick.
Read more of "Gimmicks are the new megapixels: The new generation of unusual digital cameras" at Crave UK.
(Credit:
Sunpak)
One of the more recent additions to Sunpak's tripod line is the 523PX Pistol Grip Tripod, an inexpensive, full-size carbon fiber tripod with a pistol grip ball head. Available for $199 from Best Buy, it's one of the cheaper carbon fiber tripods around and it's lightweight and very portable because of its carbon fiber construction.
The Sunpak 523PX Pistol Grip Tripod has seven-layer carbon fiber legs with a maximum height of 64 inches, and is 27.3 inches long when collapsed. It has three positions of leg angle locks for low-angle photography, with a minimum height of 12 inches. There's a second center column for low-level photography and retractable leg spikes for when outdoors.
The tripod features a pistol grip ball head, with a detachable quick-release camera plate that can hold up to 6.1 pounds. There's a built-in bubble level for setting up shots. Foam leg pads make carrying comfortable, and a padded tripod carrying case with shoulder strap is included.
The Sunpak 523PX Pistol Grip Tripod also comes with a lifetime guarantee.
(Credit:
Red)
If you've seen our Holiday Gift Guide, you'll notice the oh-so-desirable Red One modular videocam, which costs a staggering $17,500. Well, now you don't have to fork out so much for a Red system. The company has just announced the availability of the Scarlet 2/3, an affordable 3k-resolution video camera. That is, if you find $4,750 cheap.
Red initially unveiled this vidcam late last year with a price tag of $3,750 for just the body and a lens. However, the firm recently added more features to the modular system to justify for the $1,000 price bump.
Users will get a 2/3-inch sensor, 2.8-inch touch screen, CompactFlash card module, RedMote Pro, battery, and charger. The shooter has a fixed 8x optical zoom lens, but if you're looking to use your own glass, the firm is offering a kit with the body and lens adapters for Red, Canon and Nikon optics at a mere $2,750. More information available here.
(Source: Crave Asia via Engadget)
